Mark

The Super Street (1968) issue had everything but the battery box and switch. The Street Shaker (1973) deleted all of the customizing parts, the headlamp covers, the tow bar, and the light transfer bars. The Halibrand wheels were replaced by baby moon/reversed wheels, and the open wheels were replaced by unplated Cragar S/S wheels. Next issue after that (Countdown series) restored the custom parts (though the grille was altered). The Cragar S/S wheels moved to the plated tree and the reversed wheels were deleted. That's pretty much the way the kit has stayed since.

The T-222 Super Street issue (1968) had everything the annual issue had, except the battery box and switch. Mine even has the light transfer bars, though they aren't mentioned in the instructions. The grille has headlamp detail, though the detail is "clocked" (as though the sealed beams were installed crooked). That was fixed with the next issue, the Street Shaker. The license plate areas on the bumpers still have "1964" in the Super Street issue.

It works with custom parts too. The parts from the AMT '62 Bonneville annual kit are a pretty good fit on the newer Catalina, though you will have to work up new attachment points for the rear of the floorpan (existing areas will have to be cut away in order to fit the custom pan). The Stylizing parts from the hardtop look like they will fit too, though they probably won't look as good on the shorter Catalina. The AMT '62 Impala annual kit parts look workable on both the newer AMT kits (Bel Air hardtop and Impala convertible) and the Revell Impala hardtop. Haven't gotten around to trying the AMT '57 Ford custom parts on the Revell kit yet...

The AWB Falcon bumpers are altered; the "1965" is gone from the license plate areas, mounting tabs removed, and headlamp areas have covers engraved on. As for the six cylinder engine, the AMT '62 Falcon and Comet Stylizing kits (the ones that came in the box with the cellophane window) had them. The Falcon engine was mostly chrome plated. Each had different optional parts. Both kits had them included as display items, no instructions were provided in regards to putting the engine into the car. The assembled engines look pretty good in spite of a lot of molded-in detail (distributor, fuel pump, oil filter). No Ranchero kit ever came with an engine prior to the 1977 issue with the big-block Chevy from the '66 Impala. The Replicas & Miniatures engine looks like a straight copy of Jo-Han's engine, which was included in their '70 Maverick and '71 Mercury Comet kits. That one has better detail than AMT's Falcon/Comet engine, but is a late Sixties unit.

1:1 Superbirds used Dodge Coronet hoods and front fenders. The hood was altered (forward portion trimmed off) to make a smooth transition from the extended nose. If you are working with the Jo-Han 1/25 scale Superbird, a resin hood based on the AMT '70 Coronet hood might work.

The original 1970 annual kit did not have the plastic whitewall inserts. The '68 and '69 did, but not the '70.

AMC probably footed some of the initial tooling costs of this kit (the '68 was initially available by mail and from some AMC dealers, though it may have been sold in stores later). MPC probably updated it to the '70 on its own dime, though...maybe they decided to cut a corner and not update the seats. Ironically, Jo-Han updated their AMX promotional model to '70 spec (because AMC wanted '70 promos). Ironically, when Jo-Han backdated the AMX in '71 to produce the Shirley Shahan drag car, they left the '70 interior bucket untouched. The racing seats, originally molded in that "thermoplastic" that no paint or cement known to man will stick to, are molded in styrene in the reissue. Those have some neat detail that I hadn't noticed before...the seat looks like a replica of a fiberglass shell with the upholstery wrapped over the sides and attached with snaps. I might use those in a Lindberg Gremlin, that I plan on stuffing an AMX chassis and interior into...

Between the first Buyers' Choice reissue of the Winged Express (with original MPC box art) and the second (pictured) one, the Bantam Blast fuel altered (which shares many parts with the Express) was reissued. Besides the body, another difference was the front wheels. Apparently, someone at Racing Champions didn't put the correct wheel inserts back into the tool for the second Express reissue. When the second Express reissue was a currently available kit, some dealers selling them would provide the correct wheels separately. One other thing: the first Winged Express reissue was authorized by Al Marcellus (Willie Borsch's partner in the 1:1 car) while the second was not. That's why their names aren't on the decal sheet in the second reissue.

Look for some cardboard tubes (poster mailers, wrapping paper tubes) or long boxes. If you decide you like the "tube" storage method, you could buy some cheap PVC pipe to make a fixture to hold everything. I keep mine in the packages, and have a couple of long boxes to keep them in so they stay straight. I think the boxes I have were from packaged breakfast items (cinnamon rolls, Danish, or something like that). I've got a few cartons from my mom's nutritional drink that are probably long enough to use for this too. Look for boxes or tubes that you can pick up for free, as opposed to buying/building something. You might change your mind later about what is suitable, so don't tie up any money in it for now.

The '68 and '69 versions had separate clear headlamp lenses; in the new kit, they are still included. The extra set of wheels are the ones from the Lightning Bolt issue.

I've got the new one. It looks much the same as the annual, except that the stock wheels (new tooling) are on a separate tree. The custom wheels from the previous issue are still included, though the tires that fit them are not. The custom hood's clear insert is newly tooled, and the racing bucket seats are now molded in styrene (they were flexible plastic in the annual, and were not in the Eighties custom-only issue). The decal sheet has a few added things (license plates) but doesn't have stock striping (shouldn't be tough to do). The slicks and optional parts from the annual kit are all included. If you're into AMC stuff, you'll probably want one of these.

For the $34 I paid for the hardtop, I expected a lot better. The general shapes are there, but everything is off. The inner rear wheel wells are way too deep (you can't get too big a tire on a Falcon), and that steering linkage looks like it was scaled down from Erector set parts. I've seen a couple of built ones that looked great, but that was more due to the builder's effort than the kit itself. I came to my opinion long before Moebius started spoiling us with kits we never expected to see, with way better execution to boot. Hang on to that Trumpeter chassis and compare it to the '65 Cyclone when it appears. Trumpeter seems to have gone about it the wrong way; the first kits had too many gimmicks (finicky photoetched hood hinges, too-thin separate panels, metal-clad plated parts). The Falcons ditched most of that stuff, but not enough effort went into getting the shapes right. And those came after the '63 Novas, which (aside from the too-tall convertible windshield) looked pretty darned good, gimmicks and all. I sold my Falcon and got my money back...when I started putting together a sale pile for NNL East earlier this year, it was probably the first thing I set aside.

I did the exhaust removal on a '55 Nomad chassis a couple of years ago (nope, the model isn't finished yet!). The Nomad chassis would be great as a first-time project. The only area where you will break through will be the muffler. That can be filled in with thick sheet plastic after the muffler is gone. You can use a Dremel for the muffler area, to do the rough cutting. The rest can be done with SHARP X-Acto blades, slowly and carefully so as not to nick the surrounding areas. I did the bulk of the removal with the narrow #17 blade as shown above. Make sure the blade is sharp. If you have a dull blade, you'll put more brute force into moving the blade through the work. The more muscle you put into doing the work, the less you have available to guide the blade. Start by grinding away as much of the muffler as you can, to the point of breaking through. Then, cut a piece of plastic as a press fit in the muffler hole, then hit it with some liquid cement to hold it in. While that is curing, work on the other areas. I'd start at the tailpipe and work forward. When most of is gone, sand the areas smooth, putty the muffler area and anywhere else that is needed, sand again, then get some Evergreen strip and reconstruct the missing floorpan detail as a mirror image of the other side. The Nomad piece is good practice for some other project where no replacement chassis is available.

The Trumpeter Falcons are a hot mess, don't waste your time or money. If you want a '64-'65 Falcon, start with the AMT altered wheelbase body. The rear wheel openings are moved forward, and there's a recessed area for the drag 'chute in the rear body panel, but changing that stuff beats dealing with Trumpeter's "reflection in a funhouse mirror" rendition of the Falcon body. If you want 100% stock, look for a resin body or a less-than-perfect promotional model. That aside, the AMT new-tool '67 Mustang underbody is the way to go if you want more detail for the '66 coupe. A distant second would be the parts from the AMT/ex-MPC '69 Mustang fastback. Those parts originated with the MPC '66 Mustang fastback...chassis looks like the AMT '66 piece, but with separate exhaust and rear axle/spring unit. The "stock chassis for Gas class" rule fell by the wayside around the time Ohio George's '67 Mustang appeared. Mike Mitchell ("world's fastest hippie") built a '33 Willys in 1966, with a fabricated frame. At first, NHRA stuck to the "stock frame" rule, but later backpedaled, seeing how fast those cars were getting. The first few times out, Mitchell's car was moved into Altered class, but the rule change came for '67. The stock frames under some of those cars needed extensive rework for drag racing. Ever see a stock Anglia/Thames frame? (Don't look at the Revell kit; that one isn't accurate.) It's awfully puny. The Austin unit wasn't much better. I remember my older brother building a 1:1 Austin pickup; by comparison with domestic cars, its frame looked like it was made of heavy gauge sheetmetal, though several layers thick in places. A Sawzall made short work of it; the frame was intact but had a lot of scaly, scabby rust (the truck sat in a dirt floor building in Ontario for many years). Montgomery's Mustang had the Willys frame because he'd started construction on it prior to the rule change, but then again he used a Willys frame under the red '69 Mustang which was built after fabricated frames were allowed. He probably just liked them as a starting point.

Motor Trend's "awards" seemed to be connected more closely to the amount of advertising sold to a particular manufacturer, as opposed to the perceived merits of the vehicle itself...

As much of a GM hater as I am, I wouldn't call the Cavalier a failure. GM sold a mess of them, and in my area (where cars rust into oblivion) I still see plenty of them, even though the newest ones are now twelve years old. It might have been Car & Driver that remarked that they "run poorly, longer than a lot of other cars run at all". My mom got fourteen years out of a Chevette...bought new towards the end of '81, replaced by a Dodge Neon in '95. The Chevette stranded her three times in a row...three strikes, you're out. Each time it was stupid little stuff, but the floor was starting to go away, so it wasn't worth throwing money at it by then. She was happy with it overall, and got pretty good service out of it. There were things that irritated me (oil filter directly over a crossmember, no cam bearings in the head-just metal on metal)...typical GM penny-pinching. Another guy I knew bought a Chevette Scooter (the one with cardboard door panels, and no rear seat) when they first came out. He put about 160,000 miles on it, and sold it to another guy I knew. When she packed up and left him, she'd put another 100,000 on it by then, and took the car with her. The midsize and fullsize GM cars with the V6 engines were the real failures. Around here, the frames rotted behind the rear wheels where the tires threw slop on them every winter. The V6 engines were overtaxed and not up to the job. The guy who bought the Scooter brand new, later bought a Bonneville "G" (midsize) with the Buick V6...puked the engine with fewer than 50,000 miles. The rebuild didn't last any longer. He had a V8 put in after that, as did a lot of other people...

The side panel of the AMT '62 Corvair (and SMP '62 Valiant) Styline kits list the other kits in the series...at the bottom of the list is "El Camino". Presumably this would have been a third issue of the 1960 kit with Stylizing parts added (there was a straight reissue of the original version in 1961). Between production of promotional models, toy store frictions, and kits in '60 and '61, the El Camino tool was probably shot even at that point. The Jo-Han 1969 kit "sell sheet" lists 1969 GTX and Cadillac convertibles, neither of which were produced. The 1969 Auto World catalog lists the GTX convertible also, not a Roadrunner convertible as I had previously posted.

The reissue kit's box is actually a bit larger (taller) than the original. Round 2 uses the same size box for AMT and MPC branded kits, while when they were competitors (back in the day) MPC used a box that wasn't as tall as AMT's. The box bottom might be just a bit narrower because of the box top being double layer, though. Some of the chrome trees had tabs added later to stick them in the vacuum plating chamber, which sometimes made them a tighter fit in the boxes. MPC did use a slightly bigger box for some kits (Open Road camper, '71 Chevy ramp truck) but the dragster kits were in the regular box. The dragster chassis fits in, but diagonally. I'm surprised the transfer got wrinkled. The display in the Meyers Manx kit was put in the box without folding the large bottom section, unlike the original issue of that kit.

Would you be able to get Carfax info on a government vehicle? I always thought most of those are self-insured, like rental vehicles. I've heard good and bad about ex-rentals..."they don't change the oil, they change the filter and dump the drain oil back in", things like that. I rent a minivan every year for the NNL East weekend; lately all of them have had those little stickers all over that denote previous damage. I'd think it would be hard to find an ex-rental that hasn't had body work done, or doesn't have dents and scrapes all over.

That's where my interest in modeling lies, as well as music, movies, TV shows, you name it. I wouldn't build a tuner, but I do try to check out the stuff I'm "not interested in" at the shows, whether 1:1 or 1:25. Something usually catches my eye...paint quality, some added detail, overall workmanship. The idea of a "tuner rod" has been rolling around inside my head for some time, but I have a lot more ideas than interest in following through...

I check drill bits with an under $10 digital caliper from Snap-On East (Harbor Freight). Well, it's a bit over $10 when you buy a decent battery to replace the one that comes with it. Whether a costlier but more precision unit or the cheap digital piece, everyone should have a caliper in their tool set...it's great for checking the diameter of the wire you find that you think you can use for something, checking thickness of sheet plastic bought off of the salvage pile, as well as sorting the drill bits that you accidentally dumped out of their holder...

Most recent used cars are way overpriced. The dealer's rationale is usually "if this were a 2015 ---, it would cost $xx,xxx". But it isn't a 2015... it's a used 2010, 2012, or whatever. It's already got three, four, five years' use, and those were the best years. The updates to that car that took place in the intervening years aren't in the used car. The 2015 car might have a six-speed automatic where the 2010 has a five-speed, for example. If the used ones are selling anywhere close to the new ones, why bother with used? It's sitting on the lot because the previous owner no longer wants it. Just why might be perfectly legitimate (marriage, growing family) but still you are left to figure out why he/she no longer wants the car. I'd avoid cars brought in from out of state...it's often done to "wash" the title of accident information, lemon-law buy backs, things like that. BMW got nailed a few years ago for moving and re-titling cars that were bought back as lemons. They shifted them to other states that don't have a lemon law, and by doing so they wipe out the resulting loss in value. I've got a sneaking suspicion that some of the multi-state mega-dealers do this also. One used car dealer around here mentions in their advertising that their guy is always in Florida at the auctions looking for cars. No used cars around here? I can't believe that any particular car is so much more popular in one area than another, so as to make it worth transporting hundreds or thousands of miles to resell it. I'm overly suspicious...my thinking is that it's being done because it wouldn't sell where it was due to accident(s), theft recovery, or lemon law buy-backs. All of that gets scrubbed from the title when the car crosses state lines. I've said it from day one...Carfax might as well be put on a roll and sold alongside White Cloud and Charmin. I know people who sell cars, and cars they know to have been involved in accidents often have clean Carfax reports. Some insurance companies avoid providing information...after all, some of them provide "loss of value" coverage. It's not in their interest to tell the world that your car has been repaired when they might have to cover the resulting loss in value on it because of an accident. Carfax promised way more early on than they could ever deliver. Every time they come up with a new ad campaign, the disclaimers become longer and greater in number. Carfax makes money from both dealers and car buyers, more so from the former than the latter. You can't serve two masters...when push comes to shove, the dealers are buttering their bread. Every time I've looked at newer used vehicles versus a new one, for me the price gap is usually way less than for most people. Most of the used cars on the lot were sold as new cars off the lot, as opposed to having been ordered by the buyer. Usually, they'll have a lot of garbage that I don't care about or don't even want. By ordering a new vehicle with what I want on it, the price gap between it and the typical used version of the same vehicle narrows considerably. I keep my vehicles forever. My daily drivers were all bought new. Since 1979, I've bought three. Right now I don't see anything I like enough to take on a car payment and higher insurance rates. I have thought about getting something before the next level of mandatory stupidity (rear-view cameras) comes in, though...

The engines in the '32, '34 pickup, '36, and '40 Fords interchange for the most part. The Lincoln engine in the '25 T has similar engine mounts but I'm not sure if it interchanges with the others. The Chrysler 392 in the '32 roadster has a couple of spacers that usually have to go with the engine, and the FE-series Ford in some of the Deuces (and the '34 pickup) might need to be cheated a bit by installing the oil pan backwards, but otherwise they'll usually fit. The Chrysler might not fit into the '36 with its steering column, and the '40 bodies might need some firewall work to get it in also. The engines in the '49 Merc and '49/'50 Ford kits swap about as easily (among those kits), more so since the '49 Ford had the front wire axle eliminated awhile back. With the '50 convertible, you'd have to either drill to get the axle in or do something to eliminate it.

I could see X amount of drag team kits sold, but not many. If you can live without the box, the Piranha drag version reissue kits can still be had, as can the Fireball 500 (which contains that trailer).

Tom Cotter's excellent Dean Jeffries book includes only a couple of "period" color shots of the Monkeemobile(s). One shows it with a white top and interior, the other with a tan top and interior. Both photos are credited to Jeffries' own collection. The "tan" shot looks to be from back in the day because the car has Goodyear "blue stripe" racing tires and not some off-brand lettered tires that Barris probably put on the car later as part of some promotional deal. The "white" shot looks like it was taken later, but who knows? The text, however, mentions that Jeffries used stock white GTO bucket seats front and rear. But the upholstery pattern on the seats doesn't look stock. Two cars were built originally...maybe one had white, the other tan? The exterior color looks like a solid (not metallic or candy) red. The solid color probably would have been a lot easier to touch up when the car(s) were bumped or scratched during filming. The Jeffries book wouldn't be of much help with the Monkeemobile project, but it's a great read nevertheless.